Being a spoonie, in general, is hard. That’s kind of why the term exists in the first place.

If you aren’t familiar with the term ‘spoonie,’ here’s the wikipedia article on Spoon Theory which does a decent job explaining what it’s all about. But basically, being a spoonie just means that a person is dealing with a chronic illness and, on any given day, only has a limited number of ‘spoons’ which are pretty much such symbols of energy. More spoons = more energy. No spoons = no energy, and the person must rest.

Now, you may be thinking, “why isn’t everyone a spoonie, then? I mean, everyone only has a certain amount of energy until they need to rest.” Well, the way I see it at least, is that ~normal~ people kind of have this ‘reserve’ of energy that exists within them that they can kind of tap into when their energy is running low. That’s why y’all are able to just, y’know, pull all-nighters or whatever if duty calls. But the thing is, for spoonies, there is no energy reserve. When our energy is depleted, it’s really depleted. At least, like I said, for me and my personal interpretation of the whole spoonie thing. I do have narcolepsy, though, so my experience is definitely different from other spoonies with different diagnoses.

Being a spoonie in the beauty community is challenging, not only because the typical person doesn’t know or hasn’t even heard of the term ‘spoonie’ and therefore can’t be expected to respect our additional needs. It’s also just A Lot because, well, it’s an oversaturated industry and we’re therefore ‘competing’ with all of these people who not only don’t have to deal with a chronic illness, but also have this extra reserve of energy I talked about earlier that they’re able to tap into when necessary that I just point blank don’t have.

Basically, I just want to say that if you have the privilege of not being a spoonie, use your privilege in appropriate ways and remember to respect those of us who might be struggling. That doesn’t mean we should be handed everything or given anything extra, it just means that we deserve the same respect you’d give to anyone not dealing with a chronic illness.

Oh, and please never, ever tell me you wish you could sleep all the time like me. Thanks.